Klout Developer Blog

One of the most requested features on the API has been better indications of rate limits and the approach of them. Today we have those available.

Rate limit information will be provided in the headers of most calls, like so:

X-APIKey-QPS-Allotted : 10

X-APIKey-QPS-Current : 1

X-APIKey-Quota-Allotted : 20000

X-APIKey-Quota-Current : 1

Feel free to use these indicators as part of your throttling strategy-- likely easier than dealing with 403 errors! Note, in the future we may be making some changes that will change the name of those headers to something more specific. When that work goes live, we'll be sure to communicate it well before and during the process.

As always, we appreciate the vibrant variety of software built on the Klout Platform.

The Klout API is used in a variety of innovative ways. We have integrations with Social CRM systems, Social Analytics and Social Media Managers, as well as a healthy dose of consumer applications. The running thread throughout the majority of the applications running on the Klout Platform is the desire to discover and identify influential individuals across social media platforms. Today, we are introducing KloutPass, a system that allows developers to authenticate and register their users with Klout, enabling them to identify their influence across platforms, and to recognize and reward them. KloutPass releases with a JavaScript SDK enabling a simple integration with a minimum of dev time.

We are building a set of SDKs and libraries for popular platforms and languages (JS, iOS, etc.) to ensure that a KloutPass integration is simple and intuitive for developers of all skill levels. However, as with any oAuth implementation, it's crucial that you understand its specifications, limitations and strengths. We built KloutPass using the OAuth 2.0 v2-25 Draft as a guide. Klout has chosen the implicit and authcode grant patterns for this implementation.

With KloutPass, you will receive a kloutId (their score and an authentication token) for any user that successfully logs in or registers with Klout. Klout allows login with either Sign-in With Twitter or FacebookConnect. Therefore, you can now easily obtain a kloutId for a user, regardless of which network your application has identified them by. This, of course, requires the user to authorize and approve your application. At this time we are not offering any heightened permissions with a token—there are no enhanced scopes. Imagine the features that we can make available in the future with this simple building block. With the V2 Klout API, you can lookup that user by kloutId and get their Klout Score, topics they are influential about, and influence graph.

Users can manage the applications they have authorized in their Klout Settings. Some users may have found this easter egg lying dormant on the new Klout.com design.

For more information about implementing KloutPass, take a look at the sweet documentation. The OAuth API requires separate keys from your V1 or V2 API keys, and we are moderating the approval of keys for KloutPass at this time. Please provide accurate and complete information about your application when generating a key. You can do this on the Mashery Portal. We have also updated our Platform Terms of Service to accommodate these changes.

Privacy

Privacy is central to what Klout does and enters into every decision and product. KloutPass is no different. We do not provide access to a user's email address or any other personally identifying information through oAuth. The client-side Javascript SDK utilizes some of these elements to signal to the user that the authorization was successful. By using KloutPass, as a developer, you absolutely must adhere to our terms of service, privacy policy, and the terms of any of our data providers.

V1 API Sunset

It always bears repeating: the version 1 API will be retired on December 31st, 2012. All developers are advised to move to the V2 API as soon as possible to minimize disruption. The V2 API is awesome. You should use it. Not only is it on an order of magnitude more performant, we continue to add features to it.

Today, we are launching a significant improvement to the Klout Score, as well as a limited release of our new website design. You can read all about it in detail here on the Klout blog.

Because we value our partners, we would like to give you some insight into how we’re handling this in terms of the Partner APIs. The first thing to know is that starting at 10:00 a.m. today, allowing for cache expiration, both the V1 and V2 APIs will report based on this new scoring system. You won’t have to do anything different. Here are the major changes:

This will not break your code.

The old scoring system will not be available.

The Score Delta object (V2) will reflect the change.

The slope, delta-1day, delta-5day fields on /show.json (V1) will reflect the change.

The deltas will not reflect the change from “old Score” to “new Score.” It will reflect the change of “new Score on the prior period” to “new Score today.”

We’ve deprecated a few Klout.com features that are present on the V1 API:

True Reach

Network Score

Amplification Probability

Klout Style

These will be frozen, but still returned as of 9-14-2012.

These metrics are only used by less than 4% of our developers and are already not included in the V2 API.

Again, this will not break your code.

Deprecation Schedule

September 14, 2012In 30 days, September 14, 2012, the True Reach, Network Score, and Amplification Probability will be frozen. This means that from that point forward these values will not change.

December 31st, 2012The V1 API is scheduled for total shut down on December 31, 2012. You must move your applications to utilize the V2 API before that time. We’re here to help. Contact Tyler Singletary [link] to discuss the simplest path. We’ve developed many convenience methods and strategies to assist in the transition.

Thank you, as always, for being a Klout partner. We’re proud of all of the great integrations out there, and we have a lot more coming down the pipe on the API side! Now would be a great time to show off your integration on our Partner Showcase!

Since launching the new API in May we're already seeing substantial growth and adoption. Developers are enjoying fantastic low-latency and stability thanks to our more robust backend, and we are hard at work to deliver new features. Today I'm happy to announce that you can now lookup users by their Google+ ID. This marks the first new network we've implemented for lookup in the API and will allow developers to find the top Google+ influencers that have registered with Klout. It's available to all developers using the V2 API.

It's easy to work with, following the pattern we defined for Identity lookups:

http://api.klout.com/v2/identity.json/gp/{id}

In return, you'll get back a kloutId, which you can use to lookup a user's score, topics, and influencers. You can give it a whirl in our Interactive Documentation.

We're looking forward to the new integration possibilities this allows! Speaking of which, we've got a great way for you to share those...

Partner Showcase Now Open To Submissions

The Klout Partner Showcase is now open to submissions. This is your chance to promote your product and show off your killer Klout integration! Join the likes of Salesforce, Reuters, HootSuite, Radian6 and more.

Keeping In Contact

As always, feel free to tweet or email us with any questions and comments about the API and integrations. Tyler Singletary is available by email and Twitter as @harmophone. Follow @KloutAPI for API announcements, including new releases, downtime, and developer initiatives. Also, please keep in mind that the V1 API will be retired on December 31st, 2012.

During the past six months, we've combed over developer feedback, reports and our own intuition to develop a new version of the Klout API. The new API is a departure from the last version, comprising of an entirely new backend and serving system. To celebrate this, we've refreshed the Developer Portal! In addition, we launched an App Showcase that we'll be opening to partners shortly. Watch the upcoming developer blog, the @KloutAPI Twitter account, and future Developer Newsletters for a more detailed rollout schedule. During the next few months, the API is considered "in beta"; there may be certain breaking changes.

There are some major changes we would like to prepare you for before you're even given access to the new API:

All resources now require a unique KloutID. To facilitate conversion between a TwitterID/screen_name, there is now an Identity Resource.

To ensure the highest data availability and the lowest latency, you will no longer be able to make bulk user calls. Rate limits will be increased to compensate.

XML requests and responses have been deprecated. If this is a dealbreaker, please let us know.

We will continue to roll out new features and resources to the API over the next few months.

Tentative Schedule

Please understand that this schedule is subject to change.

April 9th, 2012 - Invite select partners to test and transition to the new API.

April 16th, 2012 - Open registration for new API. New registrations for the old API are turned off.

April 30th, 2012 - Breaking changes to the API will be versioned.

December 31st, 2012 - API v1 will be turned off. All partners should be using v2.

Signing up for the Beta

We are accepting applications for early access to v2 of the API and processing them at our discretion. Because there might be major changes made during this period, we stress that you are prepared to work with agility to resolve bugs and roll with the changes. If you are interested, email partners+beta@klout.com with a highly detailed request including the nature of your application, your expected volume, intended audience, and any other details that may be important.

Terms of Service

Our Partner Terms of Service may be modified in the near future to accomodate the new API. We are always working to present the best developer experience for you and us. Please keep in mind that use of the Klout API is bound by both the spirit of our rules (the "Kloutlaws") and by the legal Terms of Service. As with any online service and API, you should know these like the back of your hand.

Keeping In Contact

As always, feel free to tweet or email us with any questions and comments about the API and integrations. Tyler Singletary is available by email and Twitter as @harmophone.